


Pierce

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: ScienceBrosWeek2017 [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Afghanistan, Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Arc Reactor, BAMF Bruce Banner, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Is Not That Kind Of Doctor, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, During Iron Man 1, Fear, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury, Injury Recovery, It Just Has Swelling Around It, Major Character Injury, Medical Procedures, Medical Trauma, Panic, Protective Bruce Banner, To Save a Gosh Danged Life, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, he lies, injured Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 16:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11490663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: After escaping the cave in Afghanistan, but before Rhodey finds the engineer, Tony comes across a doctor in the middle of the desert. That man does his best to save his life.For day four of Science Bros Week 2017.Prompt: Pierce





	Pierce

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a doctor, nor a physicist, so forgive me if I make those types of mistakes... Google can only take me so far.

Night was falling faster than normal. He was sure of it. Usually, when the sun passed the noon marking, he could make it another fifteen thousand steps, but this time, he’d only made it to eight thousand. It was possible that he was slowing down, getting worn out. Escaping a terrorist base could do that to you, but he didn’t want to think about what would happen when he could only make it a thousand steps a day. Until he couldn’t get up at all. 

He forced himself to take shallow, slow breaths. If he got too worked up, he’d start breathing harder and then he’d be in too much pain to think, let alone to take another step. 

The sun was close enough to setting that it would be safe for him to sit down on the burning sand. Tony slowly lowered himself, not wanting to jostle the arc reactor in his chest. God, what he would do for a drink right now, just one strong enough to take an edge off the pain. 

The sand was still warm, but he knew that within the hour, without the sun's heat, he would be freezing. Tony took a moment to take inventory. The clothing that the terrorists had given him was torn and bloody from his escape. Even if the suit had protected him from their bullets, the impact from falling had been enough to cut him through the outer jacket, which had now taken up residence on his head to protect him from the sun. Thankfully, his backside had taken the brunt of it, otherwise, he wasn’t sure how he would’ve gotten out of the suit. He’d also kept the tape that had been wrapped around his hands, hoping that it would be able to help him light a fire, but so far, he hadn’t seen anything that would work. 

He nothing in the world of sustenance, and a few time he had thought about eating the endless sand. He’d drank his own pee twice already, even though it was disgusting and not at all water based at this point, collecting it as best he could with his final item: the helmet from the suit. It was lightweight compared to everything else, and curved enough that he could use it both as a weapon if needed and a collecting pan if it were to rain, and- quick check at the cloudless sky: it wouldn’t. 

Although the area had pretty much plateaued and now was an honest to God desert, there were still a couple hard rocks left over from the more mountainous area he’d escaped. 

The engineer set out the helmet in case some god did have mercy on him and let it rain and was about to carefully wrap the jacket around himself when he heard crunching footsteps in the sand. He clamped the metal helmet shut, ready to attack whatever it may be. In the rapidly darkening night, he forced himself up onto his feet, grinding his teeth against the exhaustion and pain. 

”Hello? Shit, um,  _ salaam _ !” a male voice called. The accent sounded American, but he wasn’t sure if he could trust himself. Although mirages were normally of water and occurred when the sun was there to refract the light, he wouldn’t put himself past hallucinating. 

Despite that, he shouted, ”Hello? Just, stay back!” He could barely make out an outline of another person maybe fifty yards away. He wasn’t sure how he’d missed this man before. He took in a shaking breath.

The shadow took a step forward. ”You speak English? You’re American?” he replied. 

”Yes. Don’t move!” Tony yelled. He felt unstable on his own feet, more light headed than normal. Maybe it was the rush of likely misguided hope he felt.

The other man stopped. ”I won’t, I swear. Are you okay? You sound hurt.”

Tony was starting to breathe harder despite himself. He doesn’t reply, instead opting to see what his fellow desert wanderer would do. 

”I have some food and water. I can set it down and you can come get it, but I don’t want you to hurt yourself more. Please let me help you.”

”You’re American too?” Tony ventured. 

There was a pause before he answered, ”Yes. I’m a doctor, will you please let me help you?”

Tony wasn’t sure he trusted that yet. Instead, he asked, ”What brings you out to a war zone?”

The reply was immediate. ”I was working with Doctors Without Borders. I got separated from my group when making a house call. I started walking and ended up going the wrong way.”

The billionaire watched him for a long while. Tony was never one prone to trust, but in this instance, he reasoned that he may need to grow as a person. A little. ”Walk very slowly,” Tony threatened, holding himself stiffly. 

The American put his hands up, “Do you mind me asking you the same?” He started forward, keeping his eyes on Tony. 

”Yes,” he nodded brokenly, “I’m not a terrorist, but I can’t- won’t tell you how I got here.”

”That’s fine,” the, Tony realized, older man replied. “You can sit down if you need to. I’m not going to hurt you,” he promised. 

”I’m good here.” he ground out. 

There was now about five yards between Tony and the newcomer. “Okay. It’s okay. Just try to breathe slowly, I don’t want you to worsen your pain.”

Tony hadn’t realized he was on his way to hyperventilating, but when he took a moment to take inventory of himself, he was and it was becoming absolutely painful. 

“Yeah. Right. Just. Just stay there for a second.” 

The other man obeyed and Tony slowly lowered himself to the sandy ground and pulled his knees up close to his middle and grunted a little at the stabbing sensation that spread through his chest. 

“You’re in pain,” he said. It wasn’t a question, but it still startled Tony. 

”A little…” Tony admitted, then, “Stay where you are.”

There was brief hesitation that crossed his face that Tony saw in the receding light. He seemed to come to a decision when he asked, ”If I start counting, will you breathe in time with me?” 

Tony thought about it.  _ Couldn’t hurt. _ “Yes.”

”Okay. In two three. Out two three. In-”

”Shit!” Tony suddenly screamed, breathing harshly. 

”What’s wrong? What happened?” the doctor sounded genuinely concerned and took a frantic step forward. 

”Nothing. J- just stay there.” 

”Are you injured?” Tony didn’t answer, so the other man continued, ”Please, let me help you. I swear I’m not going to hurt you.” 

”Okay,” Tony grated out. 

The standing man took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, tell me what hurts.”

Tony tried to wet his dried lips, but it was useless. ”It’s my- my chest. I got hurt there and it’s inflamed, swelling, the works. And I can’t breathe without hurting that. And I think I have pneumonia which doesn’t even make sense, but I feel like I need to cough up my lungs and that aggravates my chest.” He looked up vulnerably at the approaching man, “My sternum’s get a hole in it and something else's been stuck in there.”

”Okay,” the other man took a shuddering breath. ”I’m going to reach into my bag and pull out a packet of aspirin. Are you good to swallow them? When did you last eat?”

”I- Days ago. Probably,” he admitted. He felt as though the doctor was someone he should impress and that he was failing at this goal miserably. 

”Do you think you can keep something down?” he asked. 

Tony thought about it. ”I think so. I don’t feel nauseous.”  _ When did I start trusting this stranger?  _ he wondered. 

”Okay, so these are dried lizards, I swear they don’t taste that bad. And here’s some water.” The other man set them down within Tony’s reach before quickly skittering back out of his space. “Eat and drink slowly, If it hurts to swallow or to eat, stop and tell me, we’ll figure something else out. If it helps, you can talk to me about your injuries.” The  _ we’re all in this together _ vibe that the shaggy haired man was giving off was quickly dispelling Tony’s worries. 

But he still picked up the bottle of water suspiciously. “I- I need your to take a drink first.”

The other man moved toward him slowly, nodding. “Okay. I can do that.” He came back towards Tony and took the water from where Tony had put it back down. He took a small drink, before giving it back. 

”Thanks for setting it down,” Tony commented offhandedly, picking up the bottle again. 

”Sure,” he smiled wearily, but he seemed genuine. Tony slowly took a drink of water. 

”This tastes like piss,” Tony said conversationally. 

The shorter man snorted, “I can certify that it’s not, unless it’s like, two point six percent reptile urine since there were a couple of mean looking lizards in the pond that I got it from. I think they had leather jackets and were forming a gang.”

Tony smiled at the joke. ”Why the hell didn’t you stay there? At least there was better company than this perpetual sand." The doctor shrunk down on himself. “I- I have to keep moving. Staying in one place, even in one place with water, is likely to get me, or anyone, killed.

”But," he confided, "I grabbed and bagged all the lizards I could find before heading out. I think that makes me at least eighty-six percent mobster now.” 

”That… seems at least a little bit better that a volleyball.” Tony admitted. 

The brunette shrugged, watching as Tony set down the water bottle and began to unwrap the dried meat. ”Yeah, well tell that to the lizard you’re about to eat. They just taste like flavorless chicken and coming from someone who is usually a vegetarian, that’s a compliment.”

”Shit man, you’re a herbivore?”

Another shrug. ”I was. More of an omnivore now. I had to stop once I left the states since restrictive diets don’t really fly when you’re getting your food from donors in local areas.” 

Tony took a bite out of the lizard jerky. “So no spices for the reptile _ a la cart _ ?”

”Unless you count sand? No.”

“Hey, don’t bash on sand. It’s like, at least seventy-two percent salt. It’s been preserving your food better than a refrigerator since three eighty-four A.D.” 

The other man smiled. ”Sure. If only college me had known such wondrous truths.” 

Tony hummed a little, swallowing a second bite. “I would drink to that. Theoretically. If I had any form of alcohol right now.”

The shorter man looked tense, but he didn’t say anything. 

“But, uh,” Tony never remembered feeling more awkward. “So you’re a doctor?”

The brunette nodded. “Yeah. Like, I have my MD, but I’ve been, uh, doing some side work to get my PhD in, um nuclear physics.”

“Really? What took you in that direction?”

“Gamma radiation, mostly.” He ducked his head down, “I’m- I was working on radiation resistance, but we weren’t getting anywhere. Our funding got cut.”

“That sucks.”

The other shook his head, “Nothing I can really do about it now. Just have to move on.”

Tony watched him. “So gamma rays are just photons, right?”

“They’re pretty high energy, but yeah. I had worked on detection devices for the rays in college, but it’s pretty hard to track them since they’re so small in comparison to other forms of radiation. Plus, they don’t really carry a charge.”

Tony hummed, “Aren’t there a bunch of detectors out there? Like the Air Cerenkov Detectors?”

“Uh, yeah, actually. But they don’t detect the low levels that I was looking for. How do you know any of this?” 

The engineer shrugged, “I have some stakes in the science world. I’m- I’m an engineer. The thing in my chest, I made it with missile parts. It’s keeping shrapnel from piercing my heart and killing me.” He looked up. “I think I’m going to die out here, Doc.” 

The probable genius shook his head vigorously. “I swear I’ll do everything within my ability to prevent that from happening.” He sighed. “If I were in a hospital, we would need to X-ray your chest, but since we’re in the middle of the desert, I doubt that's happening anytime soon. Also, I would want to put you on a breathing tube or an oxygen mask, but again, we’re out of luck. So instead, I’m going to give you pain meds, it’s literally aspirin, which should also help with swelling. Um, water should help with the probable delirium and disorientation you’re experiencing and all over exhaustion. Food should help with any nausea, plus you shouldn’t take pills on an empty stomach, it might make you throw up. I have some antibiotics to help you with the pneumonia and to keep your injury from getting infected, which is probably the third worst thing that can happen to you out here. Really the best way to treat your kind of injury would be rest and pills and maybe surgery, but since deserts only allow for a limited amount of all three, there’s not much I can help you with, other than keep watch while you sleep.”

“Well that isn’t creepy at all,” Tony replied cheekily. He withdrew his arms from around himself, easing into a more relaxed position. “I’ll take that aspirin now,” he requested, glad to have something besides bile in his stomach. 

“Yeah. Good. Here you go.” Tony picked up the pills from where the doctor had set them down before skittering away. Tony swallowed them dry, not wanting to use too much of some stranger’s water. “Thanks,” he murmured, feeling subdued all of the sudden. 

“No problem.”

A silence settled over them, like a storm coming to drench a city. Tony watched the last of the sun disappear, leaving them in darkness. Tony shivered, feeling the dropping temperatures already. 

“It’s weird that it’s only about seven o’clock here,” the shorter man commented, taking a moment to empty his bag. Tony saw that he had matches inside. 

He didn’t ask about those, instead inquiring, “How do you know that?”

“What, the time?” When Tony nodded, the other shrugged, “I’ve been in the country for a while. You notice things. The sun sets sometime after seven and it rises around five in the morning. Afghanistan time, to be clear. I haven’t been in the mood to do math in while, so it’s up to you to figure out what time it is back where you live.”

The engineer sympathized, “Yeah. That’s all I’ve been forced to do.”

Frowning, from what Tony could tell, the volunteer questioned, “Were you… taken? By one of the groups out here? Is that how you got..?” He didn’t say hurt, but it was there. 

Tony nodded before he realized they were encased in darkness. “Ye- yeah,” he said weakly. His throat was tight, straining his words. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Tony groaned, tugging at his own hair. 

It was quiet for a moment. “I can’t help but feel the weight of your pain. Empathy is ingrained in me, I can’t help it. Sorry.”

Tony hummed, possibly imagining the effects of the drugs slowly trickling through his veins. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t make me feel like a worse person.”

The other man seemed indignant. “You can’t be worse than me.”

“You’re a doctor!” Tony protested. 

“People have died at my hands.” 

“I built bombs!” Tony shouted, feeling pain other than the physical spreading through his chest. “Bombs, missiles! I sold them to the government so that they could blow up innocents to win some perceived war. God, I feel like a tool.” 

The doctor was quiet. “I worked with the government too, for a while. They will always use you.” 

They didn’t say anything else for a while, just watching the stars. The other eventually sat down a few feet away from Tony, shuffling a few things around in his bag. 

“I have some matches,” he announced, “But I don’t have anything else to set on fire, save my clothes, I guess.”

“I have some tape, cloth stuff. Would that help?”

Tony could hear the smile in the man’s voice. “Yeah. That would work, it least for a while.” 

The engineer sat up a little to rummage through his pockets, before pulling out the piles of tape, glad he had saved them. “Here,” he blindly reached toward the shorter man’s hands, handing them over quickly before scuttling away. 

He lit a match on the broken box and Tony smiled at the warmth to come. He tilted the match toward the first line of tape and soon Tony could see the other’s face again. They both instinctively moved closer to the fire that he set down between them. 

“God, I forgot how much I missed basic needs, like heat.” 

Tony saw his companion’s smile. “Me too. I had to keep myself from lighting them just for the sake of it. I had to make myself hold back for something to actually light.” He laughed it a little and it felt foreign in his throat. Tony hadn’t done that in so long, and it felt more freeing than flying out of that camp had, like he was reclaiming a part of himself that had been taken. 

They continued to slowly feed the fire with the last of the tape pieces, but after some time, they even ran out of that fuel. They stayed quiet, sharing the dried lizard meat and water among themselves. When Tony asked if they should be reserving this, he answered, shaking his head, “I’d rather you get better first, then we can find more food and water and civilization.” Tony felt like that was a bit suspect, but he didn’t want to push it. 

Eventually, that both laid with the burning embers between them, pretending to try for sleep. 

When darkness came over them again, the last of ashes disappearing, only the stars kept them grounded. Tony thought of the light from his chest but decided that it wasn’t something he should share with a stranger. Only those that had earned his trust over and over again would see the reactor. 

”You got a girlfriend? You seem the romantic type,” Tony murmured when he felt like he was floating alone in the world with his thoughts taking him on a ride that he couldn’t control. 

“Yeah. Or, rather I did. We broke it if when I left the country.”

“Didn’t want to try the long distance thing?” the billionaire asked.

“More like couldn’t.” His words were tired, but he didn’t seem to be upset with Tony. “Being able to call each other would’ve been pretty hard and we both live pretty busy lives. She teaches and researches at a university back in the states. I used to work there too, but, then I had to leave.”

“Had to?” Tony pushed up so that he was on his side facing the doctor, intrigued. 

“I, uh. I couldn’t sit by and watch others suffer.” And goddamn, he seemed so earnest, Tony could’ve kissed the guy. 

“Fuck, you’re a saint. I grovel in your presence,” Tony groaned, laying back down onto the stinging sand. 

The man snorted, “Hardly. I can’t get anything done, not really. I can help with symptoms of this society, but you,” the other man turned on his side to look right at Tony. “You at least have a chance to dig into the root cause with your government connections and bombs and all that.”

Tony stiffened. “God don’t tell me that. Hell man, they call me the Merchant of Death.”

“Stark?” he asked, searching Tony’s face in the darkness. 

“The one and only,” Tony sighed. “Or maybe not, but at least currently, the one that still stands. The last one on the goddamned rock at the moment.”

“God, I’m so sorry,” he breathed out.

“Why?” Tony asked stonily. The doctor had felt bad before about his captivity, but being in the lap of luxury? This man was wandering the desert with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a couple of matches. 

“You’re stuck out here when you have so much to go back to,” he said, as if it were as simple as that. 

“And you don’t?”

“No. No, there’s nothing left for me in the homeland.” He went for humor, but it dropped short. 

They stopped talking after that, and finally, Tony found sleep overtaking him. 

 

***

 

“Hey. Hey, get up.”

Something was touching Tony cautiously, as if afraid to hurt him. That was when he remembered the pain. 

“Wha-?”

“Look, sorry. I have to go. Help is coming, I swear, they’re only,” he cocked his head, “fifty miles out or so. I can tell they’re American and I’m sure they’ll take good care of you, but I have to go.” 

“Where-? How do you know-?”

“Trust me. I can’t be here anymore. If they find me with you, it won’t be good for either of us. They’ll get you to a hospital. You can’t tell them that you saw me, okay? You can’t tell them about me or that I helped you or anything. If you slip, and they find out, write it off as a hallucination. Please?”

“I don’t understand-”

“ _ Please,” _ the stranger begged. Light was just edging across the horizon, and Tony could just see the outline of the man, his shaggy hair hanging low on his face. The remnants of their fire was gone, likely buried by the other and his bag was already packed. He knelt anxiously, waiting for Tony’s decision. 

“Okay. Okay, man. If you need a place to stay, anywhere, call me. My number is 212-634-2346. Don’t hesitate, man. Be safe.”

The other man’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Okay. Thank you. Go home. Heal up. Goodbye.” 

Tony watched him go, before he sat up slowly. He saw that a few pills were sitting on top of the helmet from the suit. He smiled before swallowing. Then he positioned the his jacket around his head before walking in the direction the doctor had pointed toward, leaving the helmet behind. The sun continued to rise higher and higher, heat beating down on him, but he continued, knowing that hope was just a little bit further. He could hear something, a low thumping coming from the distance. They kept getting closer and he worked to towards them. He panted heavily, and then suddenly, he ascended a dune and saw multiple helicopters fly over him. He whipped around to watch them pass him. 

“Hey!" he screamed. “Hey!” Relief flooded through him and his knees felt weak. The first of the helicopters landed. He dropped to the ground. “Hey!” he called one more time as soldier’s jumped out of the back. 

"How was the fun-vee?” Rhodey pulled him into a hug, and Tony felt like he could finally breathe again. “Next time you ride with me okay?" Tony held back sobs as Rhodey led him back to the helicopters. 

They gave him more pain killers, and he didn’t disclose that the doctor had already given him some. 

Tony never got a call from that mysterious man, but their paths would cross again just four short years later. 


End file.
